Schlesinger, a Fulbright scholar, died March 3

Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Ernest C. Schlesinger, remembered as a true gentleman who remained steadfast in his principles, died March 3. He was 82.

A College memorial service has not yet been scheduled.

Professor Schlesinger retired in 1996 but maintained strong ties to the College with his wife, Gabriella. He continued to be a regular attendee at mathematics department seminars and teas up to this past fall semester.

Professor Schlesinger joined Connecticut College in 1962 after serving as an instructor of philosophy at the University of Washington, instructor of mathematics at Yale University and assistant professor of mathematics at Wesleyan University .

In 1968-69, Professor Schlesinger was a Fulbright Scholar at University College Dublin, where he lectured to graduate students on advanced topics in complex variables theory.

In addition to his academic career, Professor Schlesinger served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. Prior to joining, he and his family had escaped Nazi Germany in 1940 and made a lengthy trip across on the Trans-Siberian Railway, then to where they traveled on a ship to Seattle, Wash.

Professor Schlesinger was also very active in the New London community. A long-time resident, he served for 20 years as a member of the city’s Board of Finance, 12 of those years as its president.

In addition to his wife of almost 50 years, Gabriella, Professor Schlesinger leaves his two children, David and Eva.

When Schlesinger retired, Walter Brady, then chair of the mathematics department, said the College was "losing a colleague of solid character and high academic ideals, who, throughout his many years of most loyal service to the department of mathematics, to the faculty and to the College, has ever remained steadfast in his principles and a true gentleman."

David Collins '79 wrote an editorial about Professor Schlesinger in the March 5, 2008 issue of New London's The Day. To read the story, click here.

Please share your own memories of Professor Schlesinger with CC: Connecticut College Magazine by e-mailing ccmag@conncoll.edu.

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